Inside Aesthetics Ep 130 Providing Charitable & Urgent Plastic Surgery Across Asia Pacific | Cameron Glover
Episode 130 hosts Cameron Glover (CEO of Interplast Australia based in Melbourne, Australia)
Interplast is a charity that provides life-saving and changing surgery across 17 countries in the Asia Pacific region. Their teams of volunteer plastic surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied health professionals also train and upskill the local medical services to provide longer term and improved care.
In partnership with local organisations including hospitals, universities and local NGOs, Interplast's mission is to 'repair bodies and rebuild lives' by providing surgical services for those who could not otherwise afford or access them. They also strengthen the capacity of the local medical systems through training and mentoring programs.
Cameron shares his journey throughout this transformative organisation, from the surgeries on offer and the biggest challenges for his teams working in developing countries, to their community education programs such as burns prevention and management.
With international travel now on hold, we also hear how COVID-19 has affected Interplast's mission and how telehealth has helped facilitate operations and training.
00:00 Introduction 01:04 Meet Cameron Gloverand the Mission of Interplast 05:59 Global Gap in Access to Safe Surgical Care 10:56 How Interplast Works Across the Asia Pacific 18:27 Types of Surgeries Including Cleft, Burns and Trauma 26:25 Training Local Surgeons and Building Sustainable Systems 33:29 Challenges Working in Low Resource Hospitals 41:37 Logistics, Equipment and Volunteer Support 48:53 Funding, Donations and Running a Medical Charity 52:09 Life Changing Patient Stories and Community Impact 61:45 Why Volunteer Surgeons Find the Work Transformational 68:49 Role of Telehealth and Virtual Training in Global Surgery 76:38 Future Technology Including Remote Surgery and VR Training 80:09 Long Term Vision to Expand Training and Patient Access 86:34 How Clinicians and the Public Can Support the Mission